


The Challenge

by vogue91



Category: Hey! Say! JUMP, Johnny's Entertainment
Genre: Childishness, Ficlet Collection, Friendship, Gen, Rivalry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-29
Updated: 2018-04-29
Packaged: 2019-04-29 13:25:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14473677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vogue91/pseuds/vogue91
Summary: “And anyway” the elder started, all haughty. “I’ve known him the longest, and it’s been longer since we’ve been friends. You’ve started going out with him after me, so you’ve got no right, brat.”





	The Challenge

**_1 – How Dare You?_ **

****

Kei stared at Yuri like he was ready to attack any moment.

They had been looking at each other without saying a word for a while now, and none of the others had dared asking what had happened of so serious to make them look so homicidal.

“And anyway” the elder started, all haughty. “I’ve known him the longest, and it’s been longer since we’ve been friends. You’ve started going out with him after me, so you’ve got no right, brat.” he said, vehemently.

Yuri raised an eyebrow, mockingly.

“Yeah. You’ve known him longer and you’re older than me. I’d say it’s about time to let go of mom’s skirt, don’t you think so, _Inoo-chan_?” he replied, innocently.

The other boy stood up and went toward him, but he stopped when the subject of the dispute entered the room.

“Dai-chan!” they yelled at the same time, going toward him.

“What is it?” Arioka asked, apparently confused by their spiteful expressions.

“Chinen said you’ve gone out together yesterday and you bought him ice cream. Is that true?” Kei accused him, but before the other could reply the youngest intervened.

“Kei said that he’s the one you’ve always bought ice cream for and that he doesn’t want to be neglected because of a brat. Could you please tell him how childish he is?”

Daiki opened his eyes wide, feeling caught in the middle.

“But... I don’t see where the problem is. Can’t I just buy for both of them when we’re out together?” he asked, cautious, aware that his answer wasn’t the right one.

And both their faces confirmed it.

They glared and then ignored him, and kept fighting between them.

Daiki shrugged and went changing, determined not to let himself being caught in the middle of their pointless arguments.

At times he wondered if he had two friends or two kids to look after.

 

**_2 – Delusional_ **

****

“Arioka Daiki!”

Hearing his name Daiki raised his eyes, and winced right away.

They were sitting in a McDonald with all the others, and he had had the really unfortunate idea of offering to go get both Yuri and Kei’s dinners.

And the eldest, apparently, wasn’t okay with that.

“Why did you give him the tray with the largest portion of fries?” he asked, angry.

The younger squinted, staring at the tray in front of Inoo and then at Chinen’s, then he raised his eyes again.

“Kei please, don’t be ridiculous. They’re perfectly identical.” he said, almost begging, hoping that the other boy would’ve seen reason.

Useless to say, he didn’t get that lucky.

“It’s not true! His portion’s larger.” he kept complaining, turning up his nose and staring at Arioka as if he had just offended him.

At this point Chinen raised his eyes to Inoo, spiteful.

“If it matters this much to you, you can have mine. I won’t stoop to your level for such trivial matters.”

Kei blushed violently, crossing his arms and turning to face the opposite way.

“You just say that because you think Daiki loves you more than me. I don’t need your fries, thank you so much.” he replied, trying to look as dignified as possible, then he finally started eating.

Daiki didn’t dare to say anything else, and he didn’t even comment the fact that Kei kept grumbling throughout the whole dinner.

It was pointless to explain to them that he didn’t love one more than the other. If they were convinced to wage war against each other, let them to that without asking for his opinion.

 

**_3 – Surrender_ **

****

Daiki had had it.

When he had suggested they went together to the amusement park, he had hoped he could’ve shown them how it was possible for him to show attention to both of them, without necessarily having one prevail on the other.

But apparently Yuri and Kei didn’t think so.

“Daiki, you’ve promised you were going to buy me cotton candy.” the eldest said, firmly, the same tone he used to let him know he was going to be in trouble if he hadn’t complied.

“You’ve promised to me as well, Dai-chan. And I’ve asked first, so I don’t understand what...”

“Who cares that you’ve asked first. Like I’ve told you countless times before, I’ve known him longer so you have no right to...”

“No, you don’t. Dai-chan can love whoever he wants, without minding you playing the part of the jealous wifey, Kei.”

“Wifey...”

Tired of seeing them fight, Arioka took a step forward and put a hand on their mouths, sure that it was the only effective way to make them shut up.

“Now I’m really tired of the two of you.” he said. “I’ve promise you both I was going to buy you cotton candy, right?” they both nodded, waiting for him to go on. “And I suppose you’d consider a serious offence if I were to buy it to the both of you.”

Once put that way it must’ve sounded ridiculous, so they didn’t say anything, even though Daiki was pretty sure that’s what they were thinking.

“Great. Then, I have the solution.” the told them, a sly smile on his face.

He went to the stand, and when he was back he had cotton candy with him. Neither resisted, and they broke the silence.

“For whom is it, Dai-chan?” Yuri asked, hopeful.

“Yeah, for whom?” Kei echoed.

Daiki sighed, smiling openly.

“For me. You’re both big boys, so if you want cotton candy, you can go and buy it yourselves.”

He sat on a bench to eat, and he didn’t pay attention to them any longer.

They would’ve gotten mad, and he would’ve heard about it till the end of his days.

But he didn’t care.

From then on, if they couldn’t coexist peacefully, let them deal with it on their own.


End file.
